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Anthrax has launched a contest, presented by f.y.e., to see the band perform live in New York City with the original singer Joey Belladonna. Starting now, one very lucky winner will have the opportunity to win a trip to the Big 4 concert at Yankee Stadium on September 14th. The winner and a guest will receive round trip airfare tickets to New York City, hotel, and tickets to one of the biggest metal events this year! In order to enter and for official contest rules, go to www.redmusic.com/anthrax/anthraxsweepstakes.html

Make sure to pick up your copy of the new Anthrax “Worship Music” record on September 13th or preorder your copy of the record now on fye.com.

If you want to hear a band with loads of potential, you have to check Cherri Bomb from Los Angeles. This kick-ass quartet of talented and good looking women just released a brand new three song EP, “Stark”. Judging from the songs I have listened to, the future is going to be very bright for this band. You don’t have to take my word for it, you can download the “Stark” EP for FREE at the Cherri Bomb website. Cherri Bomb hasn’t only caught my attention. Former Hole and Motley Crue drummer Samantha Maloney is managing the band, and they have been signed by Hollywood Records. Give them a shot, I think you will like them. I do! If Facebook is your thing, you can LIKE them here. Tonight at 7:30 P.M., you can watch the band practice on their Facebook UStream link. Check them out!!

This Scottish vocalist came to the attention of the worldwide audience when Ritchie Blackmore asked him to be the lead singer in his reformed Rainbow. They recorded one album together – “Stranger in Us All.” Doogie would go on to sing with Swedish neo-classical guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen for over a six and a half year period, record two albums and tour the world. He also recorded four albums and toured with Cornerstone and is currently the lead singer of Tank, who embark on selected European dates starting this August.

Doogie White will release his first solo album through Metal Mind Productions in October. The album called “As Yet Untitled” is a collection of 10 dramatic and hard hitting rock songs co-written by White and some good friends he has made over the years on the rock scene.

White says, “I always thought my first solo album should be called this. The journalists at Sounds and Kerrang! always had a line that so and so are in the studio recording an album, as yet untitled… Well now I have actually done that. I always like to be part of a band but I found myself isolated for a short while and decided to record some of the songs that I had been working on, while either on the road or back at home. I won’t sit around and wait for the phone to ring. A bored Doogie is a dangerous thing! I gathered the good and the great, companions who had travelled the world with me at various times. Friends who I knew were outstanding players and to a man and one beautiful woman they gave freely of their talents and time. I am forever in their debt.”

The list of guest musicians involved in the recording of “As Yet Untitled” looks impressive:

The album was recorded at various studios in Florida, Germany, and Scotland but most of the production was handled in Sweden with Pontus Norgren (Hammerfall) at the helm.

White: “Pontus and I became great friends through our time with Yngwie. He shone a bright light on the songs with his production. He brought a certain calmness to the madness and made sure that everything that was in the song had to be there for a reason. Even when the hard drive with the initial mixes was stolen, I knew that Pontus could sort it out.”

Metal Mind Productions set the release date for the 24th of October in Europe and the 7th of November in USA (via MVD).

While on tour, one of our songs from Rollin’ began to shift into a different form, so we hopped into the studio between shows and rerecorded it for digital release. We are so proud of the new version it will be released to the public as a new track. It will be available beginning Tuesday, August 9th on iTunes – be looking for it to drop!

HATEBREED have confirmed a handful of tour dates on the “SHARE THE WELT TOUR” supporting FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and ALL THAT REMAINS. Tickets for these dates go on sale this weekend to the general public, but VIP packages with pre-sale tickets will be available at 5FDP.com starting Wednesday at 10am CT. More dates TBA.

HATEBREED released their self titled record in 2009 to plenty of critical accolades. Most notably, Revolver Magazine declared the band “The Biggest Band in Hardcore” in their cover story on the band. HATEBREED released a few music videos supporting this album, most notably for their single “In Ashes They Shall Reap” which can be seen HERE.

ALICE COOPER’s widely anticipated new album, Welcome 2 My Nightmare, will be released September 13th, by Universal Music Enterprises. Recorded with longtime collaborator Bob Ezrin (PINK FLOYD, KISS), who produced the original multi-platinum Welcome To My Nightmare album in 1975, the album picks up right where they left off, with Alice trapped in his own warped mind.

The original release is an all-time rock classic that spawned a worldwide theatrical tour and pioneering U.S. TV special, and certified Alice Cooper as a visionary trailblazer whose influence persists today in rock, metal, pop, punk, theatre, television, film and much more.

More than 35 years later, Alice and Ezrin have resurrected the horror and humor for a new generation.

“This is Alice’s nightmare 35 years later,” explains Alice, “Bob and I created this character and we know how to write for him. I play the part but we’re not writing for me, we’re writing for Alice. We kept the first Nightmare album very personal to us, on this one we found more humor and we were more open. This was our world and we want to present it to the fans. The original album was my first solo album after all those huge hit records with the original band and now that nightmare is exposed, this one can be a little bit more open. The music crosses all sorts of boundaries; we went where the lyrics took us.”

There is an array of collaborators on the new album, including original Alice Cooper members Denis Dunaway, Michael Bruce and Neal Smith reunited on 3 tracks; global pop superstar Ke$ha, who affectionately calls Alice “dad”; and legendary Alice and Lou Reed guitarist Steve Hunter, who is part of Alice’s current touring band and featured prominently on the first Nightmare album.

Musically, the album ranges far and wide, from trashing disco to garage punk, pop balladry to a rocking number, very much in the spirit of the Rolling Stones. And then there’s the ballad “Something To Remember Me By,” described by Alice as “the prettiest song we have ever released.”

Glimpses of themes from the original album are intertwined throughout, each track representing a different aspect of Alice’s nightmare.

From the opener, “I Am Made Of You,” through the already established live favorite and first single “I’ll Bite Your Face Off,” to the surprising duet with Ke$ha, “What Baby Wants,” this album is a reminder that albums just aren’t made this way anymore.

And musicians do not play together like Dennis Dunaway, Michael Bruce and Neal Smith anymore.

“I wanted a ’70s feel for ‘When Hell Comes Home,’ says Alice, “and I didn’t even have to ask for it, it’s just how they play and they did it live in the studio. When they got done playing the basic track, Bob and I just looked at each other, that sound is built into their DNA. We didn’t need to go and fix anything. The way they finished was a little bit ragged, and that’s the way we used to finish songs, that’s what I like about it.”

Co-writers on various songs include the aforementioned Bob Ezrin, Ke$ha, Dunaway, Bruce and Smith, plus Buckcherry’s Keith Nelson, Desmond Child (who famously co-wrote and produced “Poison” with Alice), longtime collaborator Dick Wagner, current touring band member Chuck Garric, and film composer Jeremy Rubolino.

“That’s my rebellion,” says Alice of the more surprising guests, “I like people that don’t belong and yet what they’re doing works perfectly. I don’t care where it comes from, as long as it’s right. If you tell me something doesn’t work, I’ll work my head off until it does then shove it down your throat.”

“I think a lot of my audience is going to go ‘KE$HA!?’, but she probably wrote the most wicked lyrics in the song – we had to rein her in. I like people to know that just because artists are put in a pigeon hole, that doesn’t mean that’s what they are. Give people a little room.”

With Steve Hunter, one of rock’s great guitarists, added to the band’s lineup of guitarists Damon Johnson and Tommy Henriksen, bassist Chuck Garric, and drummer Glen Sobel, Alice has been tearing up venues worldwide on his 2011 “No More Mr. Nice Guy” tour.

Alice gave fans an up close and highly personal experience in June with a surprise performance at London’s legendary 100 Club, when actor Johnny Depp joined the band on guitar. Alice showcased the powerful band that had blown away the Download Festival crowd the previous weekend.

This year, the original Alice Cooper group was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, and Alice was honored with both the Kerrang! Icon Award in the UK and the Revolver Golden God Award in the US.

California based bluesy rock rivalists Rival Sons have released their hotly anticipated breakout album, Pressure and Time, in-stores now via Earache Records.

Called “America’s best new band” by Classic Rock magazine, who also recently nominated them for “Best New Band” and “Best Album” for the 2011 Classic Rock Awards, Rival Sons have sparked a firestorm of press and excitement throughout Europe after festival dates and on their just completed tour with Judas Priest and Queensryche in the UK.

Anticipation for the band’s return home to the US is at an all-time high as well. In June iTunes selected Rival Sons for the highly sought after free single of the week and earlier this month the band’s video for the title track from Pressure and Time won mtvU’s trendsetting video competition “The Freshman.”

Recently Rival Sons have shared the stage with notable acts like Kid Rock and AC/DC and performed memorable shows at CMJ, South by Southwest and Canadian Music Week and this fall will be hitting the road for a massive US tour that will be announced soon.

Pressure and Time Track Listing:

1. All Over The Road
2. Young Love
3. Pressure And Time
4. Only One
5. Get Mine
6. Burn Down Los Angeles
7. Save Me
8. Gypsy Heart
9. White Noise
10. Face Of Light

Hard rock titans Mastodon have confirmed September 27th, 2011, as the release date of their highly anticipated new full-length studio album, The Hunter. Several exciting events are planned for release day apart from their Reprise Records release which follows their universally acclaimed concept album, Crack the Skye released in March 2009. This is their 3rdstudio album released on Reprise Records in the US and Canada and their first to be released on Roadrunner Records outside of North America.

Beginning today Mastodon will launch a pre-order at www.mastodonrocks.com for The HunterLimited Edition Package, which includes a CD/DVD housed in a digi-pack with an exclusive alternative artwork cover, a 20″ x 30″ Lenticular Poster featuring the album cover of the standard CD, an Augmented Reality Experience by Total Immersion (more on that later) that will contain exclusive content only available to this package, plus an instant download of the band’s first new album track “Black Tongue,” also available for sale through all participating digital music retailers starting today.

Click here to view the visual companion to the song “Black Tongue,” featuring contemporary American folk artist A.J. Fosik, creator of The Hunter cover art piece.

Want more Mastodon? Fans who purchase the Limited Edition Package will also receive a download of “Curl Of The Burl,” the first official single from The Hunter before it becomes widely available for sale at all digital retails stores.

This Limited Package is a one-time only Edition. Once these exclusives sell out, no more will be created. Don’t hesitate; pre-order now here.

Flip/Atlantic recording group Staind is teaming with Indaba Music and Ultimate-Guitar.com for a truly extraordinary online competition. The contest invites fans to contribute their own guitar solos to Staind’s new single, “Not Again” — the first from their eagerly awaited new album, “STAIND.”

Beginning at 12 AM EDT on July 27th, contestants can submit their proposed solos via IndabaMusic.com — the pioneering online community for musicians. Submissions will end at 9 PM EDT on August 10th, at which point fans will have one week to vote for their favorite solos through August 17th at 9 PM EDT. A grand prize winner will be chosen by Staind themselves and unveiled on September 13th — the same day the multi-platinum band’s hugely anticipated new album, “STAIND,” arrives in stores and at all digital retailers. The winning guitarist will see the version of “Not Again” that incorporates their solo featured as a bonus track on the album at iTunes, along with a $1000 gift certificate to Guitar Center, a Mike Mushok signature model PRS guitar, a signed copy of the new album, and a one-month premium subscription to Ultimate-Guitar.com. Furthermore, 10 “Honorable Mention” solos will be chosen from the Top 20 selected by public voting, each of whom will receive a signed copy of “STAIND.” For complete contest details, please visit www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/staind-guitar-solo-opportunity.

“STAIND” — which marks the iconic hard rock band’s seventh studio album and first full-length release in three years — is available now for pre-order through the band’s website, www.staind.com. “Not Again,” the album’s first single, was the #1 Most Added track at active rock radio last week, with 71% of active rock stations adding the track, marking the band’s highest radio debut to date.

Produced by Johnny K — known for his work with 3 Doors Down, Disturbed, and Sevendust, not to mention his Grammy Award-nominated collaboration with Staind, 2008’s “THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS” — and mixed by the legendary Chris Lord-Alge, “STAIND” stands as Staind’s most intense and powerful work to date. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Aaron Lewis recently described the album as “the heaviest thing we have recorded in a long time. It’s definitely one of the heaviest collections of songs that we have put together.”

“It’s completely different than the last record,” agrees guitarist Mike Mushok. “It’s more of a throwback to where we came from. I definitely think it’s fresh. It’s a modern-sounding version of a heavy Staind record. It’s pretty cool.”

“STAIND” has already earned advance acclaim from ARTISTDirect, which hailed the album as a “timeless masterpiece,” praising Lewis’ vocals for “reach(ing) heights that only legends can touch.”

In other news, Staind is slated to return to the stage with a trio of upcoming concerts, beginning September 2nd with a headline performance at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer, Alaska. That show will be followed by a headline date at New Rock 103.9’s X-Fest 2011 at Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Dayton, Ohio on September 17th and KROQ’s annual rock festival, Epicenter 2011, slated for September 24th at Irvine, California’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. For up-to-the-minute details, please see www.staind.com/events.

Staind’s decade-plus career has seen worldwide album sales in excess of 13 million and five #1 singles spanning three different radio formats. With honest, heartfelt lyrics, resounding guitar chords, and Aaron Lewis’ unmistakable voice, the New England-based band leapt to the forefront of American alternative metal with 2001’s hugely popular Flip/Elektra third album, “BREAK THE CYCLE.” Fueled by the hit singles, “Outside” and “It’s Been Awhile,” the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, ultimately going on to five-times RIAA platinum certification and worldwide sales of 7 million.

In addition to his continuing work with Staind, singer Aaron Lewis is a fervent road warrior, performing solo acoustic shows featuring both classic Staind songs like “It’s Been Awhile” and “Right Here” and songs from his solo EP, “TOWN LINE,” which debuted at in the #1 slot on the Billboard country chart, and #7 on the Billboard 200. “TOWN LINE” also earned Lewis two CMT video nominations — one for the lead single “Country Boy,” the video for which currently has 10 million views on CMT.com and YouTube alone.